God Loves Faitfulness

November 15, 2015 1 Samuel 1:4-20 Year B 25th Sunday of Pentecost "Mom, why am I called Samuel?" The boy asked the question one day during the evening meal. Nervously she toyed with her dinner napkin. She hadn't dared tell anyone for fear that they would think her foolish. After all, she lives in the modern world, not the world populated by Old Testament characters. All of her friends knew that for years she had tried everything possible in order to be able to have children. First there were the specialists who insisted on taking all sorts of tests, making all sorts of observations, and trying to figure out what the biological impediment was. Then there were the endless sessions with counselors trying to find out whether or not there were emotional blocks. Other counselors had indicated that perhaps her concerns about her husband were interfering with conception. The list of tests and the observations seemed to go on without end. Almost unconsciously she kept going to church. Every week she would be in her regular place. Every week she sang the hymns, prayed the prayers and joined in the celebrations of the church. She also prayed silently that God would be able to work a miracle. Yes, she had a certain amount of trust in the miracles of science and medicine. She would hardly have been willing to discount the insights of psychologists. But if anyone had bothered to ask her what she really trusted she would have had to say that she really trusts in the power of God. Among some of her friends this was a little too much. "Surely you don't think that prayer itself will make much difference, do you?" they would ask. "Surely you don't intend on trusting something you can't see or measure?" said others. In fact, she had overheard one acquaintance suggest that perhaps she was getting a little too involved in the church. Nevertheless, she kept her doctor appointments and remained active in the church. At length she and her husband received the great, long-anticipated news. Her pregnancy test revealed that she would indeed have a baby. The name, what should the child's name be? Should they name the child after a favorite aunt? an uncle? perhaps a friend. No, the now-expectant mother knew what the child's name would be. It would have to come from the Bible, maybe the Old Testament. If it's a boy, then Samuel would be his name. Years later, when the boy had gotten old enough to wonder, he asked one day, "Mom, why is my name Samuel?" her answer came softly, "Son, everyone else may say that you are the result of modern science and medicine. But your father and I are convinced that you are a gift from God. So we called you Samuel which means 'I have asked of the Lord,' You are an answer to prayer." The name Samuel means heard by God. This story we are going to focus on today is the third story in a series about women, who were thought of as worthless in society – whose faith was heard and rewarded by God. At their absolute lowest point in life God stepped in and made a difference. If God can do that for them, then God can make a difference in our lives also. Today I want to ask you what is your Samuel? And who is your Hannah. And yes I said what is your Samuel, not who is your Samuel. The world has not changed as much as we think it has, and the role of women has not changed much either. We still compare ourselves to one another, we still place value on one another. In this story Elkanah was a very rich farmer with two wives. This is a significant fact, because even though it was legal, it was not common for a jew at that time to have two wives. It was expensive, but as demonstrated in this story it fostered competition. Getting married and having a boy child to take care of you was everything. And when one wife was doing better than the other, it created a very unhappy household for everyone. That is probably why marriage evolved into one woman and one man. But even today, women don’t have to be married in order to fight over a man. Women would rather fight one another, than leave the man who is coming between them. As demonstrated in our story – women still pray for a boy child that will take care of them. Even today some of those prayers are answered, and some of those prayers are not. Today, women are present in every arena of life, not just the family. So the prayers of women may be a little different. There are other things to define us, besides our children. That is why I ask what is our Samuel, not who is your Samuel. What is your lifelong dream? What is the things that defines you. And makes a difference to you. Christian music star Kathy Troccoli shares how her ministry has filled an important place in her life: Being single at 42, I'm realizing I may never have a child. But God has repeatedly brought me stories from women who have chosen life over an abortion as a result of hearing a song I wrote. At a concert in Dallas, I had just finished singing when a 21-year-old woman's voice came over the loudspeaker. She talked about when she was pregnant with her second child and was being encouraged to abort the baby. During that time, she had come to one of my concerts. I'd sung, "A Baby Prayer": "But if I should die before I wake, I pray her soul you'll keep. 'Forgive her, Lord; she doesn't know that you gave life to me.'" The Holy Spirit used that song to clinch her decision. She kept her baby. God has shown me that more children have been born through that song than I could ever bear. Kathy Troccoli and Dee Brestin, Falling in Love with Jesus (Word, 2001) I just spoke with a university professor who said that in the Catholic church, a woman is not considered relavant unless she is a mother. And once again, in her 40’s she never married, thus never had children. In the meantime she pursued her education. And yet she works at a Methodist college, because she is not considered a real woman in the Catholic world. Hannah returned her Samuel back to God. She prayed and prayed for a son. Not just a baby, but a son. She made a promise that he would be in the service of God all of his life. When she has her son, she keeps him for three years and then returns him back to God. Samuel goes on to become one of the most important men in Isrealite history. He is the man who ushers them into a new way of living, he gives them a king, first King Saul, and then king david. In those days it was believed that either God heard your prayers, or God did not. The opposite of answering, was thought to be neglect. All those years that Hannah prayed for a son, was God neglecting her prayer, or was God preparing for what she was asking? Someone said that prayer is knocking at a locked door for years with your knuckles bloody, waiting for an answer. Samuel does not mean I prayed – it means God heard. What is your Samuel? What is it that you have prayed for and still waiting for answer? What is it that you have at stake, that you just need to know that God hears in order to a make all the difference in the world? More importantly, what are you doing to prepare yourself to receive it? And how will you say thank you to God? Your answer from God is not just about you. I want you to hear me this morning. Your answer is not just about you. It will affect your family, it will affect your life, it will affect the world that you live in. What is your Samuel. Two parents who went to church faitfully had two sons. But, as is often the case with kids, one of their sons (along about the fourth grade) protested that he didn't like Sunday school….didn't see what was so great about Sunday school….and didn't see why he had to go to Sunday school. Sunday school was boring. And in a world where there are enough kid-friendly electronic bells and whistles to make life exciting, why settle for boring? Fortunately, not all kids feel that way. Some do. But not all. Maybe you have heard the complaint. Or maybe, light years ago, you made the complaint. So, what to do? Some parents, of course, capitulate to the kid. "All right, stay home. We'll all stay home. We can't have this fighting, Sunday after Sunday. It isn't worth the hassle. When you're old enough, you'll choose for yourself, anyway." Which is true. The kid will….when older….choose for himself. The choice generally being: "None of the above." Other parents call us with a set of implicit demands. "Make it more interesting," they say. "Less boring," they say. "Recruit people who will capture my kid's interest," they say. "Go knocking on doors in my neighborhood and recruit seven or eight of my kid's best friends (so that my kid will see faces he knows when he comes to Sunday school)," they say. And we accept many of those challenges, given that a subtle justification often underlies them. While others beat the kid….bribe the kid….or hit the ecclesiastical trail, going from church to church with the kid, effectively surrendering all control to the kid, mumbling quietly: "Wherever he's happy, we're happy." Which may be a reason to make one change, but when you're staring at your fourth or fifth change, it may be time to inquire as to whether your home is a dictatorship….and if so, just who the dictator is. But back to my friends and the complaint of their son: "Why should I go when I don't want to go….don't need to go….and don't have many friends who go?" To which they said (after listening attentively to his concerns): "Son, you've seen baptisms in church, haven't you? Well, when you were really little….so little that we had to carry you in our arms….we had you baptized. And, on the day of your baptism, we made a promise to God that we would bring you to church (at least until you're a whole lot bigger than you are right now). You wouldn't want us to break that promise to God, would you?" Which he thought about. Then thought about some more. Before saying: "No, I guess not." Which is pretty much the last thing he's said about it since. I suppose you could say: "He's one smart kid." Or you could say: "He's one lucky kid." All I know is what I heard his parents say: "Hey, he's not our kid." Asking for Help The early church asked for the Spirit. They acknowledged His power and His way. Sensitive souls have always turned to the Spirit for help. The Spirit does not add qualities of life we do not possess. Those qualities are not something poured into us from the outside. They are inside humans and respond to the Spirit, developing every potential to its fullest. John Milton asked the Spirit to aid him as he began his epic poem, Paradise Lost. But it would have been of little help had he not possessed the genius of a poet. John Wesley declared that the success of his work was due to the Spirit, but we must remember that Wesley was a born leader. The Spirit used him. There was something in Wesley that responded to the Spirit. "God honors radical, risk-taking faith. When arks are built, lives are saved. When soldiers march, Jerichos tumble. When staffs are raised, seas still open. When a lunch is shared, thousands are fed. And when a garment is touched -- whether by the hand of an anemic woman in Galilee or by the prayers of a beggar in Bangladesh -- Jesus stops. He stops and responds." (Lucado, 69) What is your Samuel? Rest Assured that we worship a God who hears. The related question for each of us is who is our Hannah? Hannah is one of my favorite persons in the bible. I love her faith, I love her devotion, I appreciate her gift to God. There is a Hannah in our lives who prayed for us, but there is a Hannah in our lives who we need to love and understand and support in her prayer. Sometimes in the church today we fail to minister to those who have great odds stacked against them because we fail to look beyond our prejudices and rituals and see their real need. Bishop Noah Moore, Jr., often told of a woman who came to the altar during one of the worship services when he pastored the Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He said that the woman's clothes were torn. Her hair was not combed and her eyes were red and bloodshot. Assuming her to be drunk with alcohol, he said to her: "Daughter, you know better than to come to church drunk like this." She said, "Pastor, please let me pray. You don't understand. I had to fight my husband in order to get out of the house to come to church and I will have to fight to get What is your Samuel? Who is your Hannah? Let us pray….. …..additional illustrations….. 108 Daily Routine Of Bishop The late Bishop John H. Vincent had the custom of repeating to himself each morning the following simple but far-reaching solution, which may serve as a model for us: “I will this day try to live a simple, sincere, and serene life; repelling promptly every thought of discontent, impurity, and self-seeking; cultivating cheerfulness, magnanimity, charity, and the habit of holy silence; exercising economy in expenditure, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, fidelity to every trust, and a childlike faith in God.” —Christian Observer back in. But I had to come here this morning to get the strength to make it another week."